Around the world with Dave – Stop 7

Welcome to around the world with your lovable and witty host, me, Dave. This is the place where I tell you all about the places around the world I hope to one day visit.

Our stop this week takes us to Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world. Can you guess where it is?

It is of course Angkor Wat. Or for most people it’s probably more of a case of Anchor What?

Angkor Wat is an ancient city/temple complex in Cambodia that was the centre of the Khmer Empire that ruled most of Southeast Asia from around 802 C.E to 1463 C.E.

I’m going to be honest here and say I don’t know much beyond the fact it’s an ancient city/temple complex in Cambodia with various temples in it that have changed gods and religions over the years as one Empire falls into decline and another rises to take its place. It started life as a Hindu temple before gradually transforming into a Buddhist one which it is still used as today. Good to see that there is some recycling going on and that they aren’t destroying the temples because they conflict with their beliefs like some groups have done throughout history (and still are in some cases). Just think how many temples and sites have been lost to the ages because of that mentality.

The only other thing I know about Angkor Wat is that it is the largest religious monument in the world which is impressive and another reason to go. Who doesn’t want to brag that they’ve been to the largest religious monument in the world?

Oh and it’s on the Cambodian flag. That said if you had the largest religious monument in the world wouldn’t you put it on your flag to brag a bit?

Also I don’t know much (OK anything) about the Khmer Empire besides their name and even then I’m not even sure how to pronounce it. That to me add adds a certain allure to the site because it gives me a chance to learn about something completely new, something that I know virtually nothing about and to me that is always something enjoyable.

From looking at pictures of it, it also has a completely different style of architecture from what I am used to seeing, although considering it is an example of Khmer architecture and I have no clue about their Empire/civilisation it shouldn’t be a surprise that it is an alien style of architecture to me.

The only downside is that it is an incredibly popular tourist attraction, it’s the main tourist attraction in Cambodia, meaning it is always busy.